Expect a lot of talk from Connecticut’s congressional delegation this coming week about Medicare. But the chatter might focus more on the House Republican plan to privatize the program, rather than the threats to Medicare’s long-term solvency.
The issue takes on heightened relevance today, because the Medicare trustees issued a new report concluding that the program will be insolvent by 2024 unless Congress acts.
Medicare has already been in the news a lot lately, after last month’s House approval of a Republican plan to essentially privatize the health insurance program for the elderly. And Democrats don’t plan to let the subject drop anytime soon, since the GOP proposal is causing serious consternation among the elderly-a critical voting bloc in any election.
On Monday, Chris Murphy, the 5th District congressman and U.S. Senate hopeful, will be holding a town hall meeting in Meridan with Barbara Kennelly, the former Connecticut congresswoman who now heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a Washington advocacy group.
And Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, has eight senior center visits scheduled for next week in Bridgeport, Oxford, and elsewhere, all to discuss Medicare and the federal budget.